Love, a challenge, the best kind
by Jessica M.C
Summary: A series of Spike and Dawn stories starting form when Dawn finds out she is the key. This is also a collection of challenges I got from NaNoWriMo!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Love, a challenge, the best kind.  
**

**Author: Jessica M.C.**

**Rating: PG, so far...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, any of the characters, or challenges only plot blah, blah ,blah **

NaNoWriMo is an amazing program and I wanted to use their 'Challenge Machine'. When ever you go to their site they give you a challenge, so this is the challenges I have, all in order too. So, This is a collection of their challenges, my writing. Let the games begin! I'm starting in season 5; just after Dawn finds out she is the key :)

Challenge 1

We dare you to write a scene that includes all five of these words: liver, stepmother, vortex, spasm, grotesque.

Dawn ran, tears flowing from her eyes. She couldn't believe, couldn't understand. How could she be, how… So she ran. Didn't know where, anywhere. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here, with all the secretes, the slayer stuff, the stuff she wasn't supposed to see. How could they… how? Her head was a spinning **vortex **of things. How... Who… What… How… She fell. The pain brought her back to reality, just for a second. She noticed the playground. It looked like all the other playgrounds, like the one her and Buffy used to go to adn pretend it was a castle, Buffy would tell her stories of beautiful princesses and evil **stepmother**s… Well guess not. She wasn't there. She held her stomach and just kneeled on the ground breathing.

"Bit?"Spike came up behind her. "You alright? I'm sorry you found out that way. Dawn?" He touched his back. Dawn jerked away.

"Don't" She told him. "Why do you even care? I'm not anything. I'm a thing. How… How…How… could?" She started to sob her body **spasm**ed as she cried. Spike sat in front of her. "How…What…But…Buffy…and Mom…?" Dawn looked at Spike with tears in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Dawn you are not a thing. You are a person. Dawn. You . Are. Not. A. Thing. I know I was one and killed a lot of them." He told her.

"How do you know? You were human for what? 23 years? You have been a monster for a lot longer that that! The only thing you know about people is that they taste good. So how would you know? "

"Yeah, I've done some pretty **grotesque** things, especially with Dru. But I know a lot more than you! You are a person no matter how you got here."

"Yeah, sure, if you say so." She wasn't convinced. "None of my memories are real."

"Just think of it this way, love, you never actually ate the liver your mum made you eat as a kid." He suggested.

"My mom never made me eat liver. She hates it."

"When, I don't know about kids now a days." She gave him a small smile. "You are an amazing girl, Dawn. Intelligent, fun, creative."

"But then again, how do you know that. Who gave you and me those memories? I'm never going to be normal." She cried. She stud up and wiped her face. "Well, there was never a chance of that anyway. With Buffy, and all. Buffy. I have to go." She told him stiffly. She knew who's fault this was. Dawn turned and started to walk.

"Dawn, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She told him, as she kept walking.

"Well why don't -"_ AHHHHHAHHHHHH_ They heard a scream. "Dawn stay here." He ordered her, as he ran towards it. Dawn kept walking she needed answers and she didn't have time to stand around here to wait for a vampire, chipped or other wise.


	2. Ch 2 Under the Sea

**Challenge 2- Under the Sea**

**Hi! I hope you like it so far. This one picks up right where the last one left off, on the night Dawn found out she is the key. So, I'm off to the next challenge **** Hope you like this one! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Buffy or the NaNOWriMo challenges. I'm just borrowing them.  
**

_Challenge: We dare you to send your characters on a journey to the bottom of the ocean . . . right now!_

Dawn was almost running towards her house. She needed to get home before Spike came back. He would defend how Buffy lied to her, how she kept who, what she was from her. She cried as she walked. Misery filling her. Dawn couldn't stand it. How could she not be real? How could she be a thing?

Dawn wasn't watching where she was going. She fell over something and landed on her knees.

"Ow!" She started to get up of her knees, when she saw a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry about that. My new puppy gets too excited about seeing people when we are out for a walk. Sorry." The red headed women held on to a leash as she helped Dawn up with her other hand.

"It's ok, I wasn't watching where I was going." Dawn brushed off her knees. "You're puppy's really cute, what's her name?" Dawn leaned down to pet it.

"Arial. Like from the little mermaid." The women smiled at her. "I got her from a client at work. And I'm Abby."

" Dawn. I always wanted a puppy, but…." Dawn held back tears, she _remembered_ wanting a puppy.

"Yeah, most kids do. I never was allowed one my father well… You look upset. Where were you headed off to?" The women looked down at Dawn. Dawn stood up.

"Home." Dawn told her.

"Oh? Where's home?"

"I'm not sure." Dawn told her getting tears in her eyes again. The women sat down on a bench nearby, obviously intent on hearing the story.

"Did you know I didn't exist until recently?" Dawn told her. She sat next to her, still stroking the puppy. She was crying in front of a complete stranger. Great.

"Really?" She asked intrigued.

"Yup, I am an object. I don't belong in this world." Dawn told her the truth, knowing Abby wouldn't take her seriously.

"Hmmmm, I had a similar problem. My father thought I was…But I handled it just fine. Of course I took what others to perceive as vengeance, for what he did to me. But it was justice."

"Yeah, well, there doesn't seem to be any justice for me. I wish I could be so far away from this place, maybe under the sea with Spike. It would be like the Little Mermaid 2 that Buffy took me to see last week… I could swim with the fish and dolphins and I wouldn't have to worry about life. Spike and I would dance to music being played by fish! And no one would tell me what to do, or how to be, or what I am." Dawn looked down at her lap. Great wish, unfortunately it would never come true.

"Well, wish granted!" Dawn's head snapped up to look at Abby. Abby winked at Dawn as Dawn felt herself spinning. She closed her eyes.

Dawn felt odd. She opened her eyes. She looked out at a coral reef. Not from above the water, but in it. She looked down at her self. SHE HAD A TAIL! She was like Ariel, the little mermaid! Dawn swam around. She couldn't believe this! She looked around, enjoying her freedom. She spotted Spike he also had a tail, also he had no clothes. That didn't bother Dawn a bit. This was amazing. She looked at her own tail, then saw she wasn't wearing a shirt either. She panicked for a moment. Then Dawn realized this was most likely a dream. She could do anything she wanted! She swam up to him.

"Spike!" She squealed. She embraced him in a hug.

"Dawn? Where are we? What are we doing here? " He asked her in a panic. The last thing he remembered was talking to Dawn about how she was a person, then dusting that vamp who was trying to eat that girl, then here. He didn't know what to do.

"Under the sea in my dream!" She let go of him. He looked at her and realized she was naked. He covered his eyes.

"God Dawn! You are naked." She put her hands on his, Trying to convince him to remove his hands.

"Yeah well, so are you and there isn't much to cover up, If you haven't noticed." Or so Buffy told her. "And there's not much to cover up with. So enjoy the view while it lasts. I know I will." Dawn giggled, looking at Spike's broad chest. She swam away and did a couple of back flips in the water. "It's not like you're going to remember this any way. It's my dream. We have different brains. You won't remember a thing." Dawn danced in the water. She put her left hand on his arm and she grabbed his hand with her right.

"Dawn, no." He told her. He was interested in finding the way out of here, not dancing with the slayer's naked, little sister. No, he had to stay focused. No necked slayer sister for him. "How did we get here? Dawn what happened? I told you to stay where you were."

"Dance with me!" Dawn smiled up at him. "It's my dream and I wish to dance. So dance!" She pulled on his arms.

"No, where are we?" Dawn yelled at her.

"In my dream, I must have fallen asleep in my room. This is a strange dream so far. First I was in the magic box and found out I'm a magical key, then I met this lady with a puppy named Arial and I wished to be under the sea with you and here we are! I'm starting to like this dream!" Dawn smiled up at him. She was happy this was all a dream and that she wasn't a key. "Dance with me!"

'She must have made a wish to a vengeance demon.' Spike thought. 'It's the only way they would have ended up to here.'

"Dance with me!" Dawn pulled on his arms. She could feel him caving in.

"There's no music." He told her. He thought that would stop her silly nonsense and help think of a way to get out of this reality and back to their own.

Just as he said that he heard chords strike, as if an orchestra was going to start to play.

"I hear some. C'mon" Dawn pulled on him. They swam towards the music.

He might as well, if it was 'her dream'. He also felt as if he needed to dance with her. "Fine, one song! But that's it!" he will figure out how to fix it after a dance with the 'Bit, how much harm could it due…

**I even looked up the Little Mermaid 2 to make sure it came out before Buffy's 5****th**** season. It came out about the same time! I don't know how great the story is, but here it is. I have a few ideas for the next challenge so tune in later! Oh and please, please, please review! Tell me how you think I did with this challenge! Thanks! **


	3. Ch 3 Defgras, a sport or a ritual?

Challenge: Defgras, a sport or a ritual?

**Sorry I haven't written in a while! I got caught up in life. I was in a musical and it took a lot of time adn effort! Now that it is over, I have more time for my fanfiction. So, anyway, I hope you like this one! I love the character I added, the main one not the mermaids. Althought I like them to!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that are from Buffy or any other show. I also don't own the NaNoWriMo challenges. That is really depressing! But I do own the characteres I made up and the plot! So, yay me!**

_We dare you to invent a new sport and add it to your novel. (Make sure you explain all the rules.)_

"Lovely dancing," Dawn told Spike. Spike was holding on to Dawn at arm's length, like a professional ballroom dancer. They had found where the music was coming from. In a small cove in the reef, there was a group of mermaids playing what looked like makeshift instruments. They had invited Spike and Dawn to join them. They have been listening to the music and dancing for the past hour. "You know I won't bite if you get a little closer, right?"

_I might._ Spike thought. He was feeling a little weird. He couldn't help but notice Dawn's body, the way she moved, the way she tipped her head, as if asking for permission to do something she was going to do anyway. _No! That is the slayer's sister! You cannot express your liking of her, not at home! Not here!_

"Spike? Are you ok?"

"'Course 'Bit, Just thinking of how we got here and how we can get home."

"Oh, yeah. That!" Dawn didn't look too concerned. "It's a dream, remember? No big deal." Dawn didn't look convinced anymore. She said it mostly for herself.

"It isn't, Dawn. We have to get home!"

"No we don't!" Dawn pulled away from him. "We don't _have_ to do anything. I'm going to stay here and enjoy a nice swim. So either get out of the way or have fun with me!" She swam over to a few of the mermaids.

"Hi, I'm Dawn." She extended her hand.

"Hi, Alexis, Sandy, and I'm Terry." The brunette mermaid pointed at the other two then herself.

"So, what do you guys do for fun around here?"

"You aren't from around here, are you?" Sandy asked. Dawn could tell why she was called Sandy. Her hair was the color of Sand. The kind that has been sun bleached.

"No, I'm not."

"That's cool! We almost never get new people!" Alexis gushed.

"Yeah, our town is sooooo boring!" Sandy picked up a shell, admiring it.

"There's a Danthif game tonight. If you want, you could go with us!" Terry told her.

"Yeah, we know all the cute players." Sandy giggled.

"Looks like she already has a cute player." Alexis pointed at Spike who was swimming over to them. "No, Spike and I aren't, we, no, we, ummmm, aren't a couple." Dawn stammered.

"Yeah, it looks like he wants to be _just friends_." Sandy told her. "I have a sense for these things, he's hot on you. Big time!"

"Spike, this is Terry, Alexis, and Sandy. Terry, Alexis, Sandy, this is Spike."

"I'm going to the game with them, you want to come?" Dawn asked him.

"Dawn, we really need to get out of here." Spike told her.

"No, I want to stay for the game! I'm staying!" Dawn smiled in triumph, Spike frowned _Dam Summers women_!

"I'm soooo lost!" Dawn proclaimed as she watched the mermen swim around the ring.

"Ok, let's see," Terry looked at the mermen. "See over there they guy with the brown tail. He is a Defgra. Ok?" Dawn nodded. "And so is the guy at the other end. Each time someone scores those two move down a post. They have to cover the two closest posts. Okay?"

"Yeah, got it, I think. So what do the other players do? They have to score with the coconut?"

"Yeah," Alexis chirped. "They have to get the coconut in one of the two posts. Every time they do they get a point and the Defgras move to their left, around the ring."

"So, what's the catch?" Dawn asked. They game seemed pretty easy to her.

Sandy leaned in dramatically. "The Becks!"

"What?"

"You see the cage over there?" Dawn nodded at the cage made of bamboo tethered down. It held something she couldn't quite see. "It releases one of the team's becks every time the other team gets a goal."

"What are they?" Dawn asked.

"They are fish, I think. They have evolved to make themselves invisible. We have trained them for the game. They turn invisible and attack almost anything. The teams train them not to attack the team." Terry told her.

"So how do you control them in the ring! What separates us from them?"

"See those yellow shells? Those are the becks natural predators. They keep them in. Of course we don't use live frots, just their shells. But the becks don't know the difference." Alexis told her.

"Cool," Dawn acknowledged. "What do you think Spike?" Dawn turned to the former vampire.

"Yeah, it's cool." He needed to stop, stairing at Dawn! She was going to notice. What was wrong with him. He usually could control his urges better than this! He frowned, mad at himself

"You seem so excited about it." Dawn turned back to the game. "Anything else you can tell me about it?" She asked, fascinated.

"Ummm," Alexis thought.

"It comes from a ritual." Sandy told Dawn. "It was said the posts can call the sea goddess. They called her to help the people." Spike snapped to attention. "If you did the dance right and gave up your life." Sandy told her dramatically.

"What?" Spike asked her.

Terry rolled her eyes at Sandy. "It's an old tale, not even true. It's said the dance takes some of your life but in turn the goddess grants your wish for your people."

"It's written in the cave over there. We can check it out later if you want". Alexis told them.

"Can we go now?" Spike asked. He looked at Dawn. She looked so beau- No he cannot think this way! He scowled again. Dawn looked at him, confused about his behavior.

"No," Dawn told him. "I think I'm finally getting the game. We can go after it." Dawn told him, coldly. She didn't feel like being nice to him. All he wanted to do was go home. He obviously didn't want to spend time with her. Or that's what Dawn thought. He was having a hard time spending time with her, but not for the reasons he thought. He couldn't seem to hide what he felt for her. She kept being her, and he kept looking at her, then feeling guilty for looking at her because he couldn't love her.

By the time the game had ended it was dark, Spike was miserably, not dong well to control his urges to love her and Dawn was not helping. Luckily, the girls had a couple of shells with organisms that glowed in the dark. They couldn't, however, help Spike with Dawn and his feelings.

"The cave is over here." Terry pointed out. The cave looked very ominous. It seemed to glow from within. "When we were little it was kind of scary. Not so much now, though, right?"

"I don't know, Terry, It's still pretty scary. Maybe we can come back in the light? You know when a killer squid is less likely to eat us!" Sandy held her shell farther out in front of her.

"Come on, Sandy! Where is your sense of adventure?" Alexis nudged her with her elbow.

"In bed, where I belong." Sandy told her.

"Cut it out you two!" Terry scolded them.

As they neared the cave everything seemed to stop moving. The water was still as if everything was frozen. Time stood still. It seemed wrong to talk or even move. No one moved but Dawn.

She entered the cave. The glow became stronger, almost blinding.

"How dare you enter this cave!" A voice boomed through the cave. Dawn felt as if her head was buzzing. The light faded. "How dare you enter this holy place!" The voice seemed famine, goddess like.

"What are you talking about?" Dawn looked to the others. They were frozen. They looked like statues, cold and unmoving. "What did you do to my friends?" Dawn yelled to the disembodied voice.

"I have done nothing but freeze them in time. They are not harmed. You however, I may not be as kind. You have something you shouldn't. Power, shimmer." A wisp of what seemed like smoke appeared in front of Dawn. What looked like a face appeared in the smoke. It looked confused. "You are not right."

"How should I be then?" Dawn raised her chin in defiance. The wisp, touched her and shimmered a bright green.

"What spunk. You shimmer too, green, just like I used to. Just like me." The wisp drew back becoming pale green. " How odd. I used to shimmer green before I was sent here. When I was new, when the world was new, and when demons still roamed the earth. The men banished me here. To protect me, to protect them, from the demon. The demon who was not a demon at all, but a star, who had fallen. A fallen star? She was not a star, though, no, that's not right. A much more powerful being. She wanted me, fought for me. But they couldn't let that happen. They sent me here, breaking me in three. Sent me here where no one would look. Sent the other two away. I missed them. Missed them terribly. They sent them away. They put me here in the shimmering water, no one would notice the shimmer. The water should shimmer, no one would notice. They sent me here, where the merpeople took care of me. Said they would try to make me whole. Find the other me's. But no, they could not, tried, but could not. Not enough power, not enough shimmer. In return, though, for them trying, I helped them. Helped them thrive. Took their energy to keep me whole, then made them thrive. I loved them. Loved them, till they forgot me. But I helped them, none the less, still do. I don't use their energy, use my own. Still help them when I can. So, it's not as terrible being sent here." The wisp touched her and formed the outline of women. "You, where did they send you? They said they would send you away, so she couldn't have you. Did they send you to the stars? Or perhaps the shimmery jewel they had. It was so pretty. It shimmered like me, but it wasn't me, but it was. Where were you? Where is she? Did you find her, the other me, other you? They said no one would find me or you" The wisp touched Dawn again, burning green, then turning in to the form of a women. "Or her. But my other part found me? Did you find her as well? Why do you not have her with you? Why is she not here? I missed them, me, you. Missed them terribly. Missed the shimmer we made. We were one, but separate. I missed the power, the shimmer. They broke us. Told us it wasn't safe. Not safe at all." The women pulled back becoming almost a ghost.

"Not safe? We were in danger? From who?" Dawn was panicking.

"Who?" The women almost laughed as if Dawn should know the answer. " The fallen star, the goddess. The one they broke us for. With us, she could go home, destroy the world. We were safe in our world. The other gods trapped her. They were afraid of her. Afraid of her power. What she could do. But she could not find us. The men found us, took us. Took us for themselves, then made enemies with the goddess. The men had what she needed. Us. We would open the world so she could go home."

"Home? Open the world? A goddess?" Dawn asked the women. The woman was fading even more, becoming a wisp again.

"A goddess, who looked for us, but could not find. But the men found us. Sent me here. I could not find us, you, her. The merpeople tried. Some died trying, but could not fix me, us. I was trapped here, could not leave."

"Is that what the posts are for?" Dawn asked. "To fix us?"

"Yes, the posts. They tried to call you and her. To find you. To help me. To make us shimmer again." The wisp touched her, shimmered a green color. When it pulled back it dulled again.

"Could we use it to make you… us… whole?" Dawn asked.

"No, we need her. Our sister. All of us. Together, to make it work. To make magic, to make it shimmer. We don't have enough power, shimmer. I don't have much left. You shimmer, though, brighter than I did, brighter than her. I missed you terribly, miss her terribly. Where have you been?" The wisp touched Dawn's face. It shimmered a bright green again, formed a women's body. "We were one, but not. Missed you, her." The women looked longingly at Dawn. She had tears in her eyes.

"How do we find her? Where do we look?" Dawn asked her.

"You found me. How did you find me?"

" I found you by chance. I don't know how to find her. I didn't even know you existed." The women drew back, causing her to become a wisp again.

"By chance? You don't know me? Didn't you miss me? They broke us, didn't you miss me?" The wisp almost died out.

"Wait! I didn't know! They changed my form? I was a jewel or in the stars? I'm human now. I don't remember! What about her, the one who wanted us? Where is she, what does she want? Maybe she knows where the rest of us is?"

"No, she does not, should not. They broke us so she couldn't. Sent you away, and her. Where is the other us? I miss her."

"Listen! I need to get out of here if we are going to find her. Can you send us back? "

"I have tried, I can't leave, I tried. They sent me here, so I am to stay. Can you go? Did they send you here?"

"No I sent me here, Can you sent us?"

"Us? I said I cannot go, cannot leave, I was sent here. You do not listen. You used to, when we shimmered together."

"No, I meant us, as in Spike and I. Do you have the power to send us back so I can find our other part?"

"Yes, I have that power. I haven't truly shimmered for a millennia, but I can still shimmer. You, I can send back. Him? You want him to go with you? He does not being with you." The wisp seemed to get denser. A hand materialized, reaching for Spike's cheek. "How odd, he is. He feels the need to protect you. Even when you do not belong in this world," The entity turned to face Dawn. "But he doesn't belong either, does he? He is not a being that belongs. There is something special about him. He is not like the other demons. He has a heart, a piece of soul. He shouldn't, shouldn't have that piece." The entity touched Spike's face. It didn't change. It stayed to wisp. The other powers, the younger ones, must have given it to him, let him keep it. He loves you with it. He loves. Tries not to, does anyway. Why, I do not know. We deserve love. We loved each other. We loved others. Men, we did not like, you did, always did. Her and I did not like them, you loved them." The wisp touched Dawn again glowing bright, then pulled back. "I will send you both back, to the surface, where you can find her. I miss her, miss you. They broke us, to protect us. Protect us from her, do not forget that. Do not forget to come back. I miss you, miss her. We belong together, to shimmer." She touched Dawn's face. It whispered, "…To shimmer." Dawn stared into the women's green eyes, she felt herself spinning. All she could see were her other self's eyes. She grabbed for Spike, catching his arm. His arm was still unmoving. Dawn tried to scream, but found it was lost in the green wind.


	4. Ch 4 Flooding Spike's Crypt

Challenge 4- flooding SPike's crypt...

**Sorry life go out of hand again. My muse was really not happy when I told her I had actual work to do... So she said well fine and left when I rally needed her most. But she is back with full force. i hope you like this chapter. Oh and I think, If I haven't said this before, this is AU, cause it isn't really following the same course as the TV show and i think I made dawn a bit older, cuz well it would be a bit creep if she was still 14, so...yeah... hope you like it!**

**Disclamer: I don't own, It makes me sad when I think about it...**

_We dare you to create weather inside a character's house for one chapter. (Perhaps a tornado in his or her living room?)_

All Dawn could see was green. The light had blinded her. She blinked. Dawn could feel Spike's arm in her grip.

"Spike? You okay?" Dawn asked without moving.

"No, I bloody well am not! What the bloody hell was that?" Spike yelled at Dawn, He could finally look at her without thinking he wanted to find the nearest bed, although her being naked still didn't help. "Dawn!" Spike yelped as he realized fully that she was naked. He grabbed his coat off his couch and threw it over her.

"Thanks," Dawn pulled it closer around her. It was much more fun being naked under water, and when Spike didn't mind.

"Come with me, we'll get you some actual clothes." Spike averted his eyes as he leader her down the ladder leading to his chamber below. "Here 'Bit." He threw a pair of black jeans, and one of his red button up shirts. Spike started up the ladder, so she could get dressed. He had some clothes with him.

"Thanks," She said after him. She felt stupid, all she really wanted was to crawl under her bed and never come out. She got dressed quickly. The clothes didn't fit right on her. The pants were too long, the shirt too large. She adjusted them as best she could, which consisted of rolling the pant legs and sleeves up and tying the shirt, her belly button barely showing. 'Good enough'

"'Bit you done?"

"Yeah," He poked his head through the hole carefully, not wanting to see anything he wasn't supposed to. Dawn looked down at the floor again only to see water at her feet. It was rising, fast. "Oh, My, God, Spike! Your crypt is flooding!" In the middle of the floor there was a whirl pool forming, the green water rising rapidly.

Spike grabbed Dawn. "What the FUC-"The water filled the bottom of the crypt, as soon as they made it up the ladder. The water, still rising was up to their knees before they could make it half way to the door. It was causing a whirl pool to form. Spike shouted as the water pulled both of them under. The current was strong, pulling them towards the middle of the crypt. Dawn held on to Spike, Spike had a bruising grip on Dawn.

Dawn could feel the cold water rushing over her, her body turning numb. She tried to scream for Spike, only to have water filled her lounges. She sputtered, trying to push the water out. It wasn't working, she couldn't breathe, the water was so cold, wet, burning, strong, black…

….

"Dawn! Dawn!" He felt her go limp. She wasn't moving. Spike held on to Dawn, she had become dead weight. If he didn't get her out of the raging water she was going to drown. He grabbed the nearest piece of furniture, the couch. It wasn't going to hold. It was slipping, his weight and Dawn's was going to make it topple. "Dawn! Dawn!" He grabbed her around her waist and launched off the sofa towards the door. If he could get it open, If he could just get to it…

Dawn's eyes opened, they were completely green. "Aperire." The door shot open. Dawn went limp again. Water was rushing out the door, helping Spike. He reached the door pulling Dawn with him. She was still limp, unmoving. She wasn't breathing, her heart beat was faint.

"Dawn, Dawn!" He pulled her on to the lawn, under the night sky. "Dawn, you can't die on me, Dawn, you are all I have, you can't leave me." He put her on her side, hoping, wishing, it would help. "Dawn, 'Bit, you can't lea-" He sobbed, didn't know what else to do. "Dawn," Sobs wracked through his body. He put his lips to hers, maybe he could try, maybe it would help if he tried CPR. He had no breath but maybe, maybe. He pushed the unused air out of his lungs, like he did with his cigarettes. He pushed hard. His unused air pushing into her lungs…

His lips on hers, his breath in her lungs, pushed her through the blackness. She felt the fog in her head lift as she felt his lips, then the burning in her chest. Dawn tried to remember how to breathe. She couldn't pull the air in. Why couldn't she breathe in? She couldn't remember how to…

"Come on, 'Bit, breathe!" Spike's sobbing plea broke through her thoughts. She tried to tell him she was trying to, trying to come back to him. Water came out of her mouth, instead. Oh, yeah, out then in.

Dawn coughed up water. The liquid burning her throat.

"Dawn." Spike hugged her. "Don't you ever drown again!" He hugged her more.

"Spike,..." Dawn sighed, hugged him back. "Sorry, couldn't help it." She crocked. "What now?" She pointed to his crypt. Water was gushing out the door. They could see the whirl-pool inside.

"How the bloody hell should I know? You're the one to blame for my crypt to be under water. " He looked her over making sure she was ok.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… Oh, wait! It wasn't me! It was me, but not... me. The goddess we went to for help wasn't really a goddess. She was part of the key! Part of me! We have to find the other part, before the evil goddess does." Spike looked at her funny.

"I think the oxygen was caught off from your brain, love, there was no goddess. We went to go see her, but before we got to the cave we were transported back."

"No, No, NO, There was! She freezed you guys! And she told me how we were split in to three. I have to find the other. She is either in a necklace or in the stars, or…. something"

"Dawn, what are you talking about? We need to get you to the hospital. Come on!"

"No, we need to get the gang and figure this out. We don't have time to waste." She stood up and fell back wards, Spike catching her. "Or maybe we could just sit awhile."

"C'mon Bit." He lifted her in his arms, and the world went black again…

…

"Spike? DAWN!" Buffy yelled as Spike walked through the door carrying Dawn. "What happened?"

"Ssshhhhh, slayer. She's fine. She's just sleepin' let her be." Spike gently placed her on the couch. "Towels?" Spike asked as Giles came into the room with Xander and Anya on his tail. "I'm telling you if we just –""An, let it go…" "Dear lord," Giles stared at the scene in front of him, Dawn, drenched on the couch; Spike, drenched wrapping a towel around Dawn; Buffy, looking worried and mad at the same time. "Dawn?"

"Shes fine for now, but she is seriously messed up. She knows she the key, we were teleported under the sea and my crypt is full to the brink with water."

"What did _you_ do?" Buffy acused Spike.

"Wasn't _my _fault! Your sister has gone round the bend!" Spike yelled back.

"Did not!" Dawn told them from the couch. She wrapped the towel around her tighter with a look of defiance. "Listen…" Dawn told them everything, except the part where she wished Spike would love her.

….

"So, you are saying that you are split in three and need to find the other you's?" Xander asked. Anya was sitting beside him, looking patronizing. Buffy was sitting on the edge of the couch, trying to look as if she had everything under control. Giles was flipping through books. Willow was helping, magically. Tara was the only one who looked as if she was really trying to understand.

"Well ,kind of… I made a wish to find the key, to figure out what I'm supposed to do. And apparently I'm not the only one. There are two others. I need to find the last one." Dawn explained for the umpteenth time. "I think I'm the only one who can find her.'

"Dawn, If what you are saying is true," Giles took his glasses off to rub his eyes. " then we need to put you somewhere safe so Glory can't find you either. I don't think bringing the three pieces of the key together is a good idea."

"I think Dawn has a point." Tara spoke up timidly. "We need to know what we're dealing with, without the rest of the pieces we won't know." Tara smiled encouragingly at Dawn.

"I'm all for finding the rest of the key, but we can't just go up to the stars and say 'hey you have a piece of my best friend's little sister, Can we have it back please?'" Xander pointed out.

"I have an idea!" Anya piped in. "We could just go and hide you away! We could put you in a protection program!"

"I don't think this is a good idea, any of it. You were sent to me to keep you safe. We aren't running or hiding, Glory will know something is up. And we aren't finding the rest of the key. She… it.. them? Are hidden safely away." Buffy stood up. "Dawn, I think it's bed time." Joyce nodded her agreement.

"Good night, sweet heart. I'll check on you in a few minutes."

"Really? You guys aren't even going to consider it! Fine!" Dawn ran upstairs and for the second time that night snuck out of her room to find Spike waiting for her.

…

"Out for a walk 'Bit?" Spike asked, pulling a soaking pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket.

"What's it to you?" Dawn snapped, pulled her knapsack over her shoulder and started to walk towards Spike's crypt.

"What's it to me? I just saved your arse!"

"Yeah, before or after you didn't stand up for me in there?"

"'Bit this isn't a good idea. You heard Buffy! You're safe where you are. "

"Oh, now you're going to take her side? Of course! Buffy this and Buffy that! God is she all you think about? I suppose after Dru dumped you, you needed a new obsession. Weren't getting your rocks off on an undead princess, you just had to go for the unobtainable. The slayer, The only one in the world who could protect a key, a powerful _thing_. Well, I'm going to find the rest of me no matter what it takes, so screw you!"

Spike's eyes flashed in anger, "What? You're just going to put yourself in danger! You think you are the only one you can hurt. But what about Buffy, or Willow, Xander, Giles? If not for them, for your mum! What about her? You think she wants to end up with a dead daughter, just because you think 'poor me, I need to find who I am?' You should take the time to think this through before you do something you'll regret!"

"Why should I take the time? Nobody takes the time. Not Buffy, or Mom. Not even you! You never have time for me, unless we are talking about Buffy, You didn't have the time to see what was right in front of you! Well screw you! I'm going to find the rest of me with or the gang… or you." Dawn kept walking.

"You bloody well are not going by yourself!" He grabbed her shoulder, his fingers almost leaving marks. Dawn cried out in pain at the same moment Spike did.

"Can't hurt anyone any more, my ass!" Dawn ran from him, and the pain he caused her physically wasn't half as by as what he did mentally or emotionally to her. 'Why couldn't he just see? Why did he not get it?'

Spike gripped his head in pain and watched her run off. 'Why couldn't she just see? How could she not get it?'

…

Dawn ran towards Spike's crypt. She didn't look back. She couldn't hesitate or she wouldn't go through with it.

The door was still open. Water was gushing out, creating a marsh. Running was hard on the mushy ground. Dawn caught sight of the vertex in the middle of Spike's crypt. It was glowing green. She ran as fast as she could, thinking of only to find her other part. This was her only hope.

"Dawn! No!" Just as she dove under water, she felt Spike's strong arms encircle her waist.


End file.
